West end Tuna on the weekend - yellowfin??
Hi guys
Sunday we headed out to take my mates boat for a run -been sat for some time and he wanted to give it a blast - headed over to rotto with the intent of going to the pub for a quick bite - had a few issues on the way over with the seastrainers (were full of cr @p) so after cleaning these out we gave the pub a miss and headed to the westend for a look - saw a couple of birds diving about 1 mile out from catheral rocks and with only a few rods on board and two lures we threw in a laser pro 190 and halco trembler (gold) -as we trolled out to the 40m mark both lures were hit - Mark lost his and i got mine in :-)
weighed 17kg - i thought at first it was a yellow fin - but couple of guys at the yacht club suggested it may have been a big eye?? - no camera on board unfortunately so this was the best pic we got with a mobile...
a great day out in the end -some tuna steaks for dinner (for a while!!) just goes to show you should always be prepared!
pics/link below (sorry still have not got this mastered!)
http://fishwrecked.com/image/west-end-tuna
crasny1
Posts: 7007
Date Joined: 16/10/08
From that shot
yellow Fin or Longtail. Bit hard to tell. Big eyes not so common south as they are up north.
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WADRay
Posts: 301
Date Joined: 20/12/09
Interesting
I spent a bit of time on a pro tuna boat and honestly found we caught a fair few Big eye out from albany on the trips south then we did when based out of Gero, saying this we caught a LOT more broadbill on the south trips than we did anything else. What I find interesting about it is that I have heard from several others that they didnt think Big eye were caught as often, and even that they are not as good as YFT.
We used to sell the Big eye for the best returns and they were regularly the real prize fish.
As for an ID for it with a photo like that it is very hard to tell but I would hazard to say it is a YFT, I think Long is actually the least likely. I noticed Big eye did tend to come in during winter a lot more, as they like cold and oxygen poor water. This is also one of the reasons they are the least threatened of the Tuna by the pro boats, as we used to set on current lines and the Bigs were a byproduct of the lines moving out of that warmer water (similar to the Broadbills I believe)....
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
pretty sure its a
pretty sure its a longtail, there might be a few around ;)
pelagicyachts
Posts: 1329
Date Joined: 23/02/11
yeah i have caught longtail
yeah i have caught longtail before -they seem to be more distinct so far as black on top silver underside -the photo is poor but you can see the stripes (running vertically on the fish) -long tail dont have these (they were quite lit up when we brought it on board)
crasny1
Posts: 7007
Date Joined: 16/10/08
Aha
Now that does sound more like a YFT. Also a good way is the taste test. IMO Longtails are very fishy and YFT are delish, raw or cooked.
Neels
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pelagicyachts
Posts: 1329
Date Joined: 23/02/11
yeah it is pretty good
yeah it is pretty good (eating) esp that bit in the shoulder (sashimi) :-)
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
I guess the cat is out of the
I guess the cat is out of the bag now, I'll put one I caught up recently.
Longtails also have similar stripes and the fish is just not enough of a football to be a YFT.
pelagicyachts
Posts: 1329
Date Joined: 23/02/11
ahhh ok -didnt realise
ahhh ok -didnt realise they had the stripes too - the previous long tail i have caught both locally and dampier have not had obvious stripes - but I also thought that the yft had more distinct (bigger/longer) dorsals than the fish i caught
-either way -wasnt expecting to catch anything when we left home and ended up with one in the bag :-) it ran like a train and tastes good!
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
There are some very detailed
There are some very detailed threads on what tuna is that, its still pretty tricky. Mine had lots of yellow and stripy bits on the stomach as well, but it looks just black/silver in the pic.
jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
dunno, it really looks more
dunno, it really looks more like a yellowfin to me... damn I hate these hard ID pics... could go either way.
Ryan C
Posts: 1575
Date Joined: 08/07/10
yellowfin?
it doesn't really have that elongated "long" tail that a longtail does i think it is a yellowfin. cheers
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Dunno, this one is more what
Dunno, this one is more what I'd call a football: http://fishwrecked.com/forum/yellow-fin-tuna
Great catch either way and a good break from sluggish demersals.
jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
dunno till, but compare it to
dunno till, but compare it to the longtail you just posted.. this one doesn't really have that elongated tail, as Ryan has already pointed out.
JohnF
Posts: 2839
Date Joined: 07/07/10
Hard call.......long tail
Hard call.......long tail actually are not that bad to eat in my opinion, yellow fin better though. No chance to tell the difference between big eye and yellow fin to the average punter, but it is hard to tell if it is long tail or yellowfin, let alone big eye.....my call would be a skinny yellowfin, but 50:50 call.
Top stuff!!!! they go hard heh!
Boston Whaler 235 Conquest......getting the flogging it was built for.
Adam Gallash
Posts: 15659
Date Joined: 29/11/05
yep
I'd lean more towards a yellowfin, but that pic makes it hard to tell.
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crasny1
Posts: 7007
Date Joined: 16/10/08
It just prove how hard it can be to judge these 2
I caught a "YFT" of kalbarri in dads boat which I borrowed for a day. Was certain it was one. The next day with the old man on board we certainly caught a YFT, and the first "YFT" tasted like crap compared with the true YFT. IE it was a yellow long tail.
I have since been able to tell the diff with some confidence, but sometimes it is bloddy hard to judge.
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jay_burgess
Posts: 4648
Date Joined: 18/08/05
haha the best eating I
haha the best eating I reckon, although technically not a tuna, is the Dogtooth... man are they tasty.
pelagicyachts
Posts: 1329
Date Joined: 23/02/11
yep they are tough fighters -
yep they are tough fighters - check out the difference in the dorsal fins -although my photo is cr@pola -you can see that the fins are yellow (not suggesting it is a yellow fin) but the longtails dorsal fins are grey
only way to really quantify is to get out again next weekend right :-) sounds like a good plan!!
till
Posts: 9358
Date Joined: 21/02/08
Pretty much, fingers crossed
Pretty much, fingers crossed I'll make it out for some more too!
Oceanside Tackle
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Date Joined: 23/07/09
Fin -
YFT that one - good fish - congrats
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Rick
Posts: 1119
Date Joined: 22/12/06
Nice
Just goes to show,like you said it pays to be prepared.
Unless I'm in a hurry. I always run a couple of lures off the back.
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DazSamFishing
Posts: 1518
Date Joined: 19/08/09
yep, I would also say YFT.
yep, I would also say YFT. Looks similar size to the pair johnf & i came across. Well done
Bluetonic
Posts: 1147
Date Joined: 09/01/08
Worked on a Tuna boat out of
Worked on a Tuna boat out of Hobart fishing Bluefin Tuna from September to Feb in the Southern Ocean then we used to head either up the East Coast for Bigeye and Yellowfin or the West Coast for same species. We caught plenty of Bigeye and even more Yellowfin out from the SW coast and there have been reports in the past of huge Yellowfin Tuna in Albany! And no, these arn't Bluefin as this species grows as it migrates south. The big Bluefin are more likely to be caught deep in the Southern Ocean or off the East Coast towards the Tasman Sea.
Sometimes you need to watch what the currents are doing on the east African Coast because if these are flowing strong we will get YFT and especially Blue Marlin.
Thus why I want the next FW FAD down this way.
Blue Sky, Blue Water, Bluetonic!
Alan James
Posts: 2246
Date Joined: 30/06/09
Hard to tell
but these are Big Eye around the 25kg mark caught west of Rotto. Not the best pic